Resimercial and commercial integrators have a new service opportunity available thanks to Johnson Controls‘ (NYSE: JCI) recent announcement of its OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a Service offering. The new offering is billed as the first dedicated “as-a-service” Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solution for buildings, delivering energy-efficient, turnkey clean air outcomes with an innovative financing model.
“Johnson Controls believes the best healthy buildings strategy is a holistic one,” says Ganesh Ramaswamy, vice president and president, Global Services at Johnson Controls. “This suite of offerings delivers the market’s most comprehensive portfolio of solutions, plus expert guidance, to help customers cut building costs, raise productivity and exploit new revenue opportunities – all while delivering on their sustainability goals, resulting in healthy people, healthy places and a healthy planet.”
According to the company, OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a Service provides customers with a long-term proactive approach to IAQ to meet ever-changing health and safety compliance standards while leveraging its OpenBlue technology to optimize IAQ and energy costs.
The offering is said to include five key components:
- IAQ assessments – Together with UL, a global safety science leader, Johnson Controls will use a combination of science and technology to assess indoor air quality, pinpoint areas of risk and determine benchmarks and KPIs that support better IAQ, energy efficiency and cost savings.
- Solution application – Based on the results of the assessment, Johnson Controls will apply IAQ sensors, products and services required to meet customers’ desired outcomes. OpenBlue technology breaks down data silos and delivers all critical indoor air quality information in one centralized place, making it easy to control devices, display IAQ data and identify trends, helping optimize energy costs and indoor air quality levels with AI-powered recommendations for improvements.
- Remote monitoring & advisory – To ensure desired outcomes are met, Johnson Controls will leverage its global Remote Operations Centers (ROCs) to provide 24/7 monitoring of critical IAQ values and recommendations for improvements from our team of experts.
- Annual IAQ reassessment – Acknowledging the dynamic nature of all buildings, Johnson Controls will provide annual IAQ reassessments and work with clients to enhance their operations as needed to maximize return on their IAQ investments.
- Financing – OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a Service will be offered through an optional, predictable monthly financing model. Through this model, customers will not have to worry about making large upfront capital decisions. Since the model is scalable, Johnson Controls can help organizations shift their operational models from being COVID-19-reactive to productivity-proactive to meet longer-term goals.
OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a Service will launch globally in February.
The announcement states industry research continues to demonstrate the benefits of a holistic approach to indoor air quality control and management. In a survey of Johnson Controls customers, 60% are actively investing in indoor air quality-related measures.
Even a 1% improvement in air quality can have a financial impact equivalent to an average building’s annual utility bill, according to Harvard research. In addition, improved indoor air quality can reduce the aerosol transmission of COVID-19, acting as effectively as a population that is 50-60% vaccinated, according to peer-reviewed research published in Nature.
A version of this article originally appeared on our sister publication Security Sales & Integration‘s website.
